Side Story 14. Spider Trap (3)
Flam shrank back when he heard the warning that sounded as loud as thunder.
"I asked if you understood!" Flam’s father roared.
"Yes…!”
Upon hearing the barely squeezed-out answer, the Village Chief closed the wooden cover. Then he ran straight back home to get his sword.
The two children grew confused as they were suddenly trapped in the darkness.
"Do, do you think something has happened?"
"I, I don't know.” Flam had always been a bright and confident child, but even he couldn’t help but be terrified by the sudden situation. He was still only seven years old and could not drive this fear away.
The two children relied on each other and held hands tightly. At that time, shouts and screams began to be heard from outside.
"Ahhh!"
"Kill everyone! Don't leave any of these rebels alive!"
"Sa, save me! Please! My, my child at least...! Ahhh!”
"Dad!"
The village, which had been peaceful during the day, was now transformed into a hell. The sounds of things breaking, screaming, and shouting were everywhere. Occasionally, the sound of iron colliding with each other could be heard, but that had died down now.
"What, what do we do...!”
"I need to see what's going on outside."
"D, don’t....”
Despite the child's dissuasion, Flam gathered the potatoes he was laying on and made a foothold with them. Then, he stepped on the potatoes and looked outside through the cracks of the wooden box.
"Gasp…!" Flam blocked the scream that was about to burst out with his hand.
What was visible through the gap was a horribly gruesome sight. The neighboring aunties and uncles who had been smiling and greeting him just this morning were now lying on the ground bleeding.
Then, as he wielded his sword, Flam's father shouted at the knight who ordered the village’s eradication. "What did we do?! Why are you brutally slaughtering us so cruelly?!”
The knight spoke emotionlessly, pulling out a sword. "I know that this is a traitorous village which seeks to rebel against the Empire and His Majesty, the Emperor. From your prayers, it seems we’re not wrong."
Flam's father yelled and rushed at the imperial knight as his sword became wrapped in sword aura. "You devil with a human face!"
"Hup!" The knight was surprised, and he barely managed to block the sword aura. Unlike the capital, there were almost no knights in the border area who could skillfully handle sword aura like this, which is why the knight was caught off guard. Putting aside sword aura, knights who could even use mana properly were rare.
"Attack together!" The empire’s knights attacked Dainter, the head of the Resistance, using a rotation tactic. [1]
Dainter faced his opponents and grew to resent his rusty swordsmanship and old body. He hadn’t participated in a real battle for a long time, and soon, one of the empire knights dug their sword into his side. This caused a serious injury and determined the winner.
"Cough!"
Flam burst out of the box as his father collapsed.
"No, stop...!” The child beside Flam tried to hold his leg to stop him. Yet, he could not overcome the strength of someone who grew up eating well.
"Dad! Run away!"
"Wh, what!" Dainter was shocked when his son suddenly popped out.
His father’s words before entering the box had already disappeared from inside Flam’s head. With only the thought that he had to save his father, he blindly tackled one of the empire’s knights.
"What?"
"Argh!" The knight easily kicked Flam away and cut Dainter's neck with the sword he was holding.
"Nooo!" Flam roared and charged back at the knight.
"You feisty brat!" The knight's sword penetrated Flam's abdomen.
"Ugh!" Flam drooped over, vomiting blood out from his mouth.
"Tch, is everything taken care of now?" The knight clicked his tongue as if he were uncomfortable and pulled out the bloodstained sword.
"No. I think he came from there. Search it."
At the commander’s order, the knight swung his sword in the air with a tired face, shaking off the blood, and walked toward the potato storage box.
The child in the box wanted to scream. In his situation, the fear of dying had a greater impact than the brutal sight of an admired friend vomiting blood.
Just then-
"Ugh!" The knight approaching the box collapsed on the spot.
"Hey! What's wrong?!"
The comrades of the fallen knight were bewildered. One of them approached to check his condition.
"Uck!" However, the comrade who approached him also collapsed.
"D, don't joke around!"
When they suddenly collapsed one after another, the knights were beyond confused and started to grow afraid. Even they felt some guilt slaughtering young children. In addition, it wasn’t like that they didn’t believe in superstitions such as vengeful ghosts.
At that time, they heard a voice from behind them, not from the fallen knights. "It's not a joke. That’s because they’re already dead."
When they heard this sudden voice, the knights turned around and took a defensive position, nervous.
There was an old man with black pupils walking slowly and sighing. "It seems I was very late."
The old man glanced at the potato storage box and clicked his tongue.
The knights stared at the old man and shouted.
"Who the hell are you?! Did you do that to those guys?!"
"Are you a magician?!"
The knights surrounded him and aimed at the old man’s bloodstained sword, but the old man still smiled leisurely. "Huhuhu, a magician. I've never learned anything close to magic.”
The knights swallowed dryly. "Then what did you do to them?!"
The old man lightly flicked his finger at the knight who shouted.
"Ugh!" Then, the knight closest to the old man screamed and vomited blood. If you looked closely at the fallen knight, you could see a small hole in the chest.
The old man answered, pointing to the hole, "That’s how I did it.”
The knights were terrified as the old man gave this explanation, acting as if he couldn't explain it any more kindly. No matter how hard they trained, it was impossible for them to swing their sword faster than a flick of one’s finger.
Among the empire’s knights, the highest-skilled knight, the commander, trembled and asked, "Sir, who might you be?"
The old man cradled his chin and thought for a while. "I see. I haven't even introduced myself yet. I'm Zendia Blade."
"Gasp! B, Blade!" The knights trembled with fear when they heard the old man's name.
Staring around 15 years prior and ending a few years ago, Doomstone Blade was actively roaming about, and the tyranny of Talaria Blade in the name of "fixing" was fear itself for the nobles. Indeed, until now, the name "Blade" was no different from a disaster from heaven akin to a plague.
At the same time, however, the knights seemed to have found a loophole to live. The "Blade Family" was the head family of the Crow Tribe, which was allied with the empire. If they revealed that they were knights of the empire, they would be able to move past this easily.
"We, we're the Empire's-"
The knights tried to introduce themselves, but Zendia raised his hand and stopped them. "I didn't introduce myself to you guys, so there’s no need for you to introduce yourselves."
Then, he passed the knights and approached the potato storage box beside the stable.
"L, let's talk for a moment!"
"Quiet. I have no time to listen to the words of those who have already died." As soon as Zendia's said this, the knights collapsed one by one, vomiting blood.
"Wh, when…!”
Finally, even the remaining commander collapsed and vomited blood.
Zendia did not even look at the fallen knights and carefully knocked on the potato storage box.
Knock, knock!
"I'm sorry I'm late. I should've hurried a little bit. I made you have a scary experience because I was too slow."
Zendia did not forcefully open the box, as he could already feel that the presence inside had drawn back in fear. Moreover, the sight outside the box was very horrifying. Zendia decided to clean the surroundings instead of recovering the trembling presence.
While arranging the bodies of the village one by one, the box cover carefully opened when Zendia reached out to the body of a child. He said in a soft voice, "It's okay if you stay inside longer."
The child shook his head with a timid gesture. "F, Flam is... my..."
Even with the child's tentative voice, Zendia understood immediately and let out a bitter breath. "Ah, they’re your friend."
The child nodded carefully.
"I see."
Zendia gathered all the bodies into one place. The only exception to this was the boy's body and the one that appeared to be his father. Then, he wrapped his arm in a strong aura and swung it to create a huge pit outside the village.
"Is your family perhaps here? It may be scary and painful to see, but I will make a separate grave for your family."
That way, you can come and find it later… He chose not to say this last part. There was no need to force him to realize the reality of this brutal situation where all the villagers were slaughtered overnight.
The child shook his head at Zendia's question. The child had no family in this village. There was a relative who gave him a warehouse to sleep in, but it was not a relationship that could be called familiar.
“….”
In response to the child's answer, Zendia laid down the villagers one by one without saying a word. There was no time to build gravestones for each person. This was because it was unknown when other villages would be attacked, just as this one was.
Soon after, all the villagers were laid down, and the pit was covered with soil.
"Will you bury this child yourself?" Zendia asked the child kneeling in vain in front of his friend.
The child nodded slowly, walked somewhere, picked up a wooden shovel, and began digging.
The amount of soil dug out by the child's small hands was too small. No matter how much the child ran around in the mountain, he didn’t have sufficient nutrients growing up and was stick-thin. In addition, he was only a seven-year-old boy, so shoveling was heavy labor for him.
But the child did not stop shoveling. The child did not stop even when the impact on a large stone made his hand hurt, and a splinter from the uneven wooden handle pierced his hand.
This pit was the only resting place for the child’s only friend. Even if today was the first time they got to know each other, he was the first person to hold his hand. He was the first friend to ask his name.
He was the only one who smiled at him. "Sob, sob..."
The child held back tears but could not hold back the sound. His palms were all peeled and covered with blood and full of pain, but he also didn’t feel it.
Is it because people only feel one pain?
The child was more pained by his heartbreak than his bloody hands and shaking arms caused by excessive labor. After hours of digging, the child made a deep pit.
Watching this, Zendia caressed the child's friend and brought him to the pit. "Say your last goodbye."
The child burst into tears that he had endured up to this point.
"I'm sorry… I’m sorry...” The child collapsed as he muttered this. He had endured for a long time.
Zendia laid the child down again with pitiful eyes and dug into the hole, making it deeper. Even if the child had dug for hours, he was still only a child. It couldn't have been deep enough to be used as a grave.
After digging again, Zendia laid down the two bodies and covered them with soil. Then, he brought a large rock and trimmed it like a gravestone.
"I'll have to ask you their names to engrave them later. Sleep well first." He wished the child peace in his dreams.
Zendia stroked the child's head and hoped.
1. This tactic is where multiple people take turns attacking one person to wear them down. ?
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